The writing challenges I was doing were 30 days long, but I’m not up to having to think any harder than I already do on other writing jobs I do, plus other things. Instead, I will be participating in a 30-day ab challenge. It won’t be much of a challenge for me because my core is pretty strong, but I’ve definitely been slacking off lately. I doubt I’ll ever have flat abs again at this age, but the stronger they are the fewer backaches I have. 

I tell people Tom’s stronger but I’m smarter. Well, I don’t know that I’m literally smarter since he knows an awful lot about other things; things I’m not interested in or good at. The one part of me that’s definitely stronger than him is my core. He’s got the arms and the legs, I’ve got the core, speed, endurance and energy. :) I love to rub this in too, LOL, but he has no problem admitting I’m fitter. It’s just too bad this bum thyroid won’t let me strip 30-40 pounds of fat. :( 

I slept long and well last night and my schedule even jumped nearly 6 hours. 

Had a chat with Tammy and she totally understood when I said I unfollowed the girls cuz I was sick of hearing about their father. I won’t get into why I hate him, but let’s just say it’s something big enough to be unforgivable. My sister hates him too, but for different reasons. I asked Tammy not to tell them and she agreed. No need to hurt anyone’s feelings, after all. I like that we can unfollow anyone who annoys us without actually deleting them, and I have deleted a few. Feed flooders, repetitious posters, religious fanatics, etc. 

Anyway, Tammy said she understood and that she listened to the girls when they went on and on about his condition, but she did it for their sake only. Well, his “condition” is that his cancer has spread from the kidneys to the lungs to the liver. As soon as she said the magic word, “liver,” I knew the wife/child beater would be toast soon enough. It’s now got 6-20 months left based on what I read. I guess this is the kind of cancer that like with my brother, spreads so fast that by the time you’re onto it, it can’t respond to treatment. So we’ll both have mixed emotions when he finally goes. We’ll feel terrible for the girls, but we’ll be laughing amongst ourselves. 

Andy’s going to take the train from Oakland to Auburn in late November and then his sisters are picking him up the next day. Wow, I’m surprised they’d make the drive up here. They’re all going to go to a Fleetwood Mac concert in Sacramento before taking off. 

No landscapers anywhere today, but someone was hammering. Again? What do they think these houses are, old and rundown? 

Was saddened to learn that Alison lost both her job and her apartment after being in the hospital for 24 days. Why aren’t there any laws securing people’s jobs and homes that are in the hospital long term? That’s outrageous that people should lose things like that due to circumstances out of their control. 

Andy said if she were really an FBI employee her job would’ve been secured. I don’t doubt that she was the analyst she said she was. Even if I hadn’t seen that news vid, it was just about enough in all the years we’ve talked, though she didn’t “talk” much about it because they’re not allowed to discuss cases they're investigating. She worked in the sex crimes unit and found it very depressing. I asked Tom if he agreed with Andy and he said no because there was probably more to her being let go than just the time she missed. I agree. Aly’s also been battling clinical depression and who knows what else. Prayer hasn’t worked for her any more than it has for me, and well, something up there definitely seems to have had it in for her for a long time now. She’s determined to fight it, though, and to see better days ahead. I hope so for her sake. She could really use a break. For now, I’m glad she could move in with her parents even if she doesn’t always get along with her mom. 

The two dreams I remember from last night were negative, as usual. One was common for me and it doesn’t take a genius to figure it’s probably because I fear falling into poverty again someday, even though we’re a lot smarter about saving money than we used to be, and would like to think the economy could never get so bad again before he retires. We could retire at 62 but would be struggling. We’d be fine at 66, but ideal at 70. 

Anyway, in the dream I was at some couple’s house. They were such nice people, too. I don’t know who they were or how I knew them. I didn’t seem to know Tom in the dream. They had a party one night and I helped them cater to their guests. I don’t know if they had any kids or if anyone else lived with them, but was determined to see if I could stay with them because I was homeless. I had planned to tell them about my situation after the party but broke down in tears in the kitchen after bringing a tray of dirty dishes into it. The guy saw me and I tried to explain why I was homeless and about my sleep problems, but didn’t think he was comprehending much of what I said because there was so much commotion going on around us. 

In the second dream, Sugar either got outside somehow or I was dumb enough to let him out. After a while of his not returning home, I asked Tom if he thought he was still alive out there and he said no. I woke up feeling sad and guilty for letting him die out there alone.